I'm the co-founder and partner of Lux Digital in New York, and the author of "Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking" (Berrett-Koehler, 2010). I'm a consultant to key media and advocacy organizations, and my clients have included The Ford Foundation, The Daily Beast/Newsweek, and Jim Hightower’s Hightower Lowdown. I'm a social media advice contributor for NPR’s flagship news program, “All Things Considered.” I specialize in social media, am a leading expert in women and technology, and am a frequent guest on CNN International, BBC Radio, Fox News and more.

Top Reasons The #SocialEra Changes Everything

I’ll admit it: I hate business books. Outside of the fact that most of my work focuses on making the world a better place, which often runs rather contrary to the profit-focused schemes of the business world, it’s the–deep breath–buzzwords that really do me in. There’s only so much “seamless leveraging of synergistic core competencies while maintaining brand integrity and mindshare in the value system of the new economy” that I can take before the urge to set the book on fire becomes too great, and I risk violating deeply-held principles I have about book-burning.

It is with great joy (and relief) that I can recommend a new business book out this month: 11 Rules for Creating Value in the #SocialEra by Nilofer Merchant (Harvard Business Review, Sept 2012). I met Merchant online earlier this year through common friends and entrepreneurship circles, and when she suggested that she send me a copy of her manuscript, I cringed with worry, fully aware of my business-book track record and easy access to matches and gasoline. I agreed, however, and am beyond grateful that I did: This is one of best books describing the deep shifts in how we operate in the world that I’ve read in years–probably the most radical and compelling since Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody.

We all know that, thanks to technology, everything about everything is changing. You can pick up a million other books to describe the surface of those changes, or to wax poetic on what the changes might/maybe/could possibly mean. But turn to Merchant for a powerful and clear breakdown of what the Social Era means now, and how best to take advantage of its benefits in the near and distant future. Merchant is at her best when she issues direct challenges to traditional business thinking; not content to simply criticize or offer armchair quarterbacking, she thoughtfully explains this integrative and purposeful moment we each have the capacity seize.

I had a chance to talk with Merchant this week about the deep shifts, how they affect social change and social justice work, and what the Social Era holds not just for the few, but for all of us.

DZ: We have lots of new technologies, but what should we be focusing on now?

Nilofer Merchant

NM: New technologies enable social exchanges – from news aggregator sites like Twitter, to crowdsourcing platforms for service like Get Satisfaction, or social networks like Yammer that allow sharing of information within an enterprise. No doubt, we’ll continue to see advances. And while any new technology can be interesting (of late, I’m fascinated by Pinterest!) they not actually the central idea: Each on its own is only an example of how value is created with others, allowing seemingly disparate individuals to create value in a way that once only centralized organizations could.

Now the question is, Why do we keep thinking about things in old ways? For example, why do we need to have all people inside one building to “collaborate?” Why do we insist on everyone having to come to work in a set spot each day when most of us are not most creative in that context? Why do we insist on thinking of work as that thing we do when we get a paycheck rather than that thing we do to create value? We should be focused on what is the best way to actually create value and optimizing for that, not some bogus 20th century way of looking like we’re creating value.

DZ: One of the passages that resonated most with me was where you say, “Connections create value. The social era will reward those organizations that realize they don’t create value all by themselves.” This principle is so hard for traditional business leaders, and non-profit leaders, too, to wrap their heads around. How do you convince the non-believers? Do you have a favorite story of someone who has seen the light?

NM: Let’s face it, non-believers are committed to their non-believer-ness. We might never change them. Or as Geoffrey Moore would say, laggards wait until there is no choice other than to act. Laggards are the ones still using fax machines instead of email.

Instead, let’s focus on those that want to use Social because they get that things have changed, but they are only using it as an add-on. You see, most organizations have been focused on tacking social elements onto their current operations. Social has been adopted programmatically, rather than strategically. Use a community here, consider doing a freemium strategy there, and then, of course, engage on Twitter. All that has done is get our old models to move a little faster, and they (and our organizations) are straining with the effort of maintaining that speed. It doesn’t allow them to actually be fast, fluid, and flexible even though that is what market conditions warrant.

I think of industries like banking. In the last 10 years, major financial tools have been created: for example, a Paypal – a simple form of online payments, Kickstarter to allow crowdfunding of projects, and Square which can make any one a merchant. The banking industry continues to ignore all these as “anomalies.” Instead of adapting to the changing landscape, a major bank, Bank of America, recently considered (then revoked) a wildly unpopular $5 fee for customers to get their own money via their debit card because they have to find a way to fund all those retail storefronts.

If you were creating a “bank” today, you would likely ask yourself how to accomplish the transactions (deposits, withdrawals, financial management) of banking without the physical commitment of banks. You wouldn’t try and do it all yourself; you would engage community. You might build on the idea as ING is doing with its café model providing a hub within a local geography. You might code mobile banking apps, like the companies transforming finance in Africa. You might even reimagine what it is to lend money — and rather than fight peer-to-peer loan legislation, you might enable local and social lending, as offered by the Lending Club.

Have I seen some who have seen the light? Yes, and it is a wonderful thing. The key was that they were willing to reimagine who they were.

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